Ch.4...K.P.F.C.

Rick woke up with his face in his wet pillow. He opened his eyes, and saw his white pillow was now partly grey. He sat up and looked. He had his brother's water bottle still in his hand, open. That must be why.. Rick thought. He got out of bed and changed into a dry shirt. He peeked out of his room to see his clock. 5:48. Whew. Nick isn't home yet. Rick thought. He ran into the kitchen and turned on the kitchen faucet. He filled the water bottle to about full of water and put it back into the fridge. He walked to his couch and put on his monitor, picked up the controller and turned on the system.

The menu screen came on. There is online mode, offline mode, and options. Rick went to online and the waiting screen came up. He waited about two minutes and then he appeared in the Gaming Area. A message immediately came to his attention. He closed the window, and walked in and looked around. He walked over to the area for talking.

He walked around the many groups of people talking, looking for someone that looked friendly. Someone.. Alone, maybe that's what he wanted. In his position. Someone without a friend, needed a friend, and more importantly, wanted a friend. Then he looked to his side, and saw a girl walking up to him, she looked about his characters age--like age 18, as nobody wanted a child for a friend.

She is tall, compared to the real Rick, anyway, and has short dark brown hair and same colored eyes. She's wearing a blue long sleeve shirt that was torn from the waist down and jeans to match her shirt. On her shirt around the chest area, there was a circle, insignia-like blue circle. She is a Kufos, the users of Partisans--the shape and it's color changes with the class. Rick, being a Saburu, he had a red triangle in the same place. When she came up to him and stopped, Rick turned to her and she said "Heya, you want to come play with me?"

Rick gave it an ounce of thought, fast enough to just think about it while he started his reply. "Sure." She grabbed his arm and dragged him back where she came from. "Cool! Come meet my friends!"

Rick's eyes went wide. "Friends?" When she dragged him to the wall of the room and let go, there was a man and a women. The man was tall, and had red, spikey hair with a Saburu crest, while the women was a bit shorter and had blonde hair that was let down some on her shoulders with a Turika crest, an orange square. "Here he is," said Kina.

"Hey," said the man, holding out his hand. Rick took it and shook it, not hard, but normally. "I'm Yuri, and this is Koura, over there. And I'm guessing you know Kina." He said in a kind tone, with a smile.

"Well, she didn't tell me her name," Rick told Yuri, taking a slight glance at her. "My name is Rick."

"Welcome to the club, Rick!" Yuri said, with a huge smile on his face.

"Club? What..?"

"Oh, Kina must have been vague."

"Terribly vague, if we're talking about a club," Rick said, trying not to seem too confused. "Kina just asked me to come and play with her."

Yuri put his hand over his forehead and started to laugh. "That figures. Kina's always doing that. You see, we and some others are in a club called the K.P.F.C., meaning Kagerre Players Fan Club, the club where fans of Kagerre gather to talk and play." Rick thought. Joey said something about being with a large group. Was he in a club? "We do activities inside and outside of gameplay," Yuri went on, "The game creaters are sponsoring this, so we have our own secret place to go to, even though now over twenty-five percent of players have joined and is not too much of a secret. Like now, I'm talking to you about this out in the open."

"Most of the players here now are Japanese, so not many of them understand you." Rick said.

"Ah, so you're a smart one, eh?" Koura finally spoke up. "Are we just going to let him into our club?" She said, skeptical.

"If he agrees, of course we are," Yuri said. "It's how we always do this. Have you ever doubted one of our members before?"

"There seems to be something about him.."

"Don't worry about it," Yuri said. "How could he do anything harmful to our club? He won't try to brake up our club, will you, Rick?"

"That would depend," Rick started. "Are you really from the K.P.F.C.? You could be from some other club."

Then, still looking at Rick, Yuri turned sideways to the left and showed an insignia, maybe even a label, that said K.P.F.C. in a hard to read font on his upper arm. Then Koura turned and showed an insignia, in an easier to read font. Kina didn't move, just watched. Rick turned to her, and requested, "You?"

She immediately snapped back. "Of course I'm from the same club. Why would I bring you here if I wasn't in the same club?"

"If you aren't in this club," Rick replied, "Then why would you? Well, that's what I'm asking you. They have proof that they're from this club. They wo--"

"Hello?! No duh I'm in the same club. What would be the point of bringing you to them if I wasn't in? Sabotage? Weakening?" She snapped.

"Possibly. Now show me you're in this club."

She sighed heavily, and turned around, as the she was on his right, with the insignia on her upper arm, a curly font at that. "Are you happy?"

Rick gave a little smile. "Now I am."

"So," said Yuri, "Do you want to join? It costs no money at all and you can get rare weapons from winning the activities. We ask only of your cooperation and kindness towards other members."

Rick gave it some thought. Of course, they let him think for a little while.

Will it be safe? That's what Rick wanted to know. They wanted people to be members of this club. If they have 25 percent of all players, then why would he be out talking to me when only Japanese speaking people are here? Why would they be mentioning it at all? What is their purpose for having me? Why was I specified? Why did Kina snap at me? So many questions, so few had answers. "Sure." Rick said. I'll figure it out, I have my Kurama-Gaisen if anything goes wrong. Rick thought as he agreed.

"All righty then, Rick. You're in." Yuri announced. Rick managed a minor smile, even with the thoughts of how this could be a bad idea.